Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Product of the Year!

Wooden Curtain Wall

Something else I would like to do with this blog is to start adding posts about great looking products to consider on projects.

Earlier in 2008, I went through a process of trying to find this type of product. I am wondering if this is a new website because I did not locate this at the time. I found some other contemporary wood windows that did not meet wind loads and impact resistance, as required in the New Orleans area. This states that the the depth can be eingineered to meet local requirements!

2009 Agenda- So Far

This will be a few notes on extracurricular projects to get underway for the 2009.

Claiborne- University Neighborhood Association:
Releaf New Orleans
Hike for kaTREEna
Apply for Grant with GNOF for greening in University Village
Finalize traffic study for S. Claiborne
Track area demolitions and zoning variances

Other:

Join Construction Specifiers Institute

Organize Sustainable Continuing Education programs

Submit for AIA Design Competition- (very schematic)

Volunteer work with Louisiana State Museum

Monday, November 10, 2008

EDR Field Trip

This is a beautiful project done by the firm I work for. It is on a secluded site with wild animals roaming the property. It is located in a secluded part of the Mississippi River.

This shows these interior window coverings that roll down and provide a solid method for blocking light rather than curtains. It makes a nice design detail. The wood requires reapplication of protective coating but makes for a great looking exterior finish.



Wednesday, November 5, 2008

LLOG Under Construction- 2

LLOG 1


This is construction on an office building which is the first project I worked on at Eskew+ Dumez+ Ripple, detailing the building envelope. This building is located in Covington, LA. This was something I was thrilled to work on and it appears to be coming along nicely.





Friday, October 10, 2008

Designing in 2008

I am in an ongoing effort to develop a library of design related digital images for inspiration and reference. I’m very interested in design and try to use my camera to remember the details that have a strong architectural character, as well as capture picturesque moments and spaces that are brought about by architecture. Design for me, at this point in my career is mainly about the technical aspects of putting buildings together and successful detailing. The examples of great architecture in my image library are mainly the result of having the details work and support the conceptual side of the design. With the use of a blog, I can organize numerous images and share them very easily.

A recent project under construction is an office building for LLOG Exploration, LLC in Covington, LA. This project is to be open in March 2009. I handled the detailing of the exterior envelope with the firm, Eskew + Dumez + Ripple.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Monochrome

San Miguel Mission
British Museum

The Tate Modern
Boston Public Library


Notre Dame


Sacre Coeur


Grande Teton



Model of Hong Kong







Paul Arthur Dufour

Article in INregister

"I am complete space.
In order to identify myself I have to find my limit through form.
The mark I make only serves to outline and never outlive a time void.
A sense of needing a focus of form
Allows me to be
– this being you now understand –
but never the space."

A major inspiration and supporter of my career is my grandfather. I just discovered an article about him-

Article

I will also link to my personal family oriented blog, where I included more about him-

PAD

Paul Dufour (1922 - 2008)
Baton Rouge mourns the loss of a legend


By Jason Andreasen

All too often, certain words are used with a frequency that diminishes their impact, rendering them effectively impotent. Titles such as “visionary,” “genius” and even “educator” have fallen victim to such fate to varying degrees. Such is not the case when these characterizations are applied to the late Paul Arthur Dufour.

Sadly, with his wife of 59 years and his family by his side, Dufour passed away peacefully on Saturday, September 6 due to complications of pneumonia.

Many live to see the 86th celebration of their birth, but few fill the days in between with as much as Dufour had. Dufour was a veteran of World War II, a father, a husband, an educator and, what most likely recognize him for, an artist. However, this is only part of why his passing finds Baton Rouge in a state of mourning.

Dufour’s childhood was spent in New Hampshire while his early adulthood was capped with the adornment of a World War II Victory Medal. Following his service to the United States Navy, Dufour pursued the arts at Yale University and, in 1959, joined LSU’s painting faculty. As Samuel J. Corso, his student and eventual business partner, explained, Dufour’s time as an educator would not only affect the students who had the privilege of his teachings, but helped define the teacher as well.

“He was a very unselfish and insufferable educator,” said Corso with a chuckle. “If I had to characterize one quality; beyond his magnificent talent and his brilliant mind, he really cared about education, giving everything he could to his students and helping them really develop their own idiom. Those of us who have continued – professionally – are very individual and Paul encouraged that. He promoted self-expression. He didn’t want us to look like him.”
As Corso explained while standing in a hallway displaying both his and Dufour’s vividly colorful works, Dufour’s first commission to design stained glass windows came prior to his ever truly having worked in the medium. This commission would not only shape his life’s artistic direction but lead to something that, at one point, would be the only of its kind.

“He called around to different glass companies and studios that did liturgical stained glass windows, which are standard and can be ordered out of a catalog. He asked them how to [complete a stained glass work] and they said no. He said, ‘Well, I’m gonna learn and I’m going to teach my students,’” said Corso.

This single telephone call resulted in a program that offered both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in stained glass, something shared by a single school in England. After the Royal Academy of London closed its program, the stained glass program Dufour introduced to LSU was the only one in the world, attracting students the world over.

Although Dufour’s work can be found in collections as far-reaching as Japan, his signature is most notably found throughout Baton Rouge. He was a founding member of Baton Rouge Gallery, Inc. and his work in the liturgical arts can be seen at local churches such as Christ the King Catholic Church on LSU’s campus and St. Aloysius. During his career, Dufour also won a host of awards, including the 1999 Governor’s Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions to the Arts.

In 2002, Kristin Malia Krolak, who now serves as Gallery Coordinator for LSU’s School of Art, was so moved by his work that she made it the subject of her graduate thesis. Titled, “Collecting Raindrops: Investigating Multiplicity in the Work of Paul Arthur Dufour,” the paper’s abstract included the following:

“In Paul Dufour’s art, the more you look, the more you see. Multiplicity is the key for understanding the career of Paul Dufour because it illuminates perhaps one of the only conceptual links that is present in all of his pieces.”

In the wake of Dufour’s passing, Krolak explained, “Personally, he was a treasure and inspiration in my life and I will always be grateful for the conversations and hugs we shared. I will think of Paul whenever I see sunlight shining through my window. He was our beam of light and his spirit will always be with us in our memories, hearts and in every sparkling, sunlit morning.”
Paul Dufour touched the lives of so many in our community and around the world, though surely none could have put it better than his son, Paulo Dufour:

“Paul Dufour shot his arrow into the sun and it rained down in our soul. Every piece of art Paul made that I ever really had a conversation with – which is what he believed you did when viewing art – had the ability to transform me into a manifestation of my deeper humanity. It is magic after all and not material. I miss him terribly.”

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Boston- Portland 2005

Nothing like a party to make a reason to go up to New England
Boston City Hall!

and on to Portland Maine for a couple of days, where the wedding took place




Ferry ride took us this neat island
You take the boy out of ole New Orleans but you can't take the beer out of his hand



Passing through New Hampshire where my grandparents are from
Back to Beantown, on the Freedom Trail




Back Bay Brownstone
Fenway from our hotel room

City Hall again

The public library by Mckim, Meade and White





The bards of Ye Olde Oyster House
The Charles



Prudential Building




Boston Pops


Holocaust Memorial
Funeil Hall
Christian Science by I. M. Pei

Ye Olde Oyster House